After decades buried beneath layers of paint and wallpaper, the beautiful interior décor of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s masterpiece mansion, Holmwood House, slowly emerged in bold, opulent colour and a rich array of patterns.

The architect’s love for Grecian styling – obvious from the exterior of the Glasgow villa, with its elaborate columns and classical patterns etched into the sandstone – was revealed to be even clearer inside: restorers uncovered highly decorative gilded wall borders, rich patterns of honeysuckle motifs, twisted rope and flamboyant florets.

But having battled through the laborious task of bringing the South Side villa’s walls and ceilings back to vibrant life, a major question remained – one that many modern homeowners face after a spell of decorating. Just what to put on the floor?

Now the results of intense research that has involved scouring hundreds of Victorian carpet patterns and archive paperwork to find links to the acclaimed architect and his bold designs, are complete – bringing to a conclusion the major project to re-create the splendour of Holmwood as it was designed by Thomson.

According to NTS curator Emma Inglis, creating the last piece of the Holmwood House jigsaw meant entering “unchartered territory” due to the lack of evidence to point them towards just what Thomson’s masterpiece property might have had actually had on its floors.

The search eventually spanned the Glasgow-based Stoddard Templeton carpet archive, the historical archive of Brintons Carpets in Kidderminster, the National Archives at Kew, the V&A Museum and the designs of Thomson’s contemporaries such as architect Owen Jones.

Having been unable to uncover any carpet designs created by Thomson, the team set about commissioning four new ones, taking inspiration from the closest designs they could find to his distinctive style and faithfully echoing the colours, patterns and opulent style which became his trademark.

With the new carpets now in place, the Trust is now preparing to showcase them and mark the restoration of the house’s interior with a free event on April 9.

Marking the 205th anniversary of Alexander Thomson’s birth and the completion of the restoration project, the doors to Holmwood House will open to visitors to explore its fascinating interior, learn more about Thomson’s work and discover how the Trust overcame a wealth of challenges to complete the intensive redecoration project.

The South Side villa was designed for paper magnate James Couper, owner of the Millholm mill in the valley below the property. Dating from 1857 and built at a cost of £3600, it is regarded as the Glasgow architect’s finest domestic creation.

The house passed through the hands of several owners until 1958, when it was sold to the Sisters of our Lady of the Missions, who established a convent and primary school.

Down the years, the ornate interior was covered by layers of paint and paper, hiding Thomson’s lavish designs and vibrant colours, and sparking concerns among the architect’s fans that they had been lost forever.

The convent closed in 1992 and the property was saved from demolition and redevelopment in 1994.

Having taken over the impressive mansion, NTS then faced the challenge of carefully stripping away decades of décor to see what might remain.

“Many different families lived there over the course of the property’s lifetime,” explains Emma. “When the Trust took over, inside there was a lot of brown paint, plain walls and patterned paper.

“It was a very long way from the original décor.”

The house reopened in 2019 after restoration had revealed highly colourful and intricate stencilled walls - rare examples of Thomson’s interior design schemes.

The most detailed elements of his interior work known to have survived, the stencils confirmed Thomson’s whole-house approach to architecture and design, leading curators to believe he would have paid the same attention of the floors.

“We know Thomson designed carpets as well as all the decoration and architecture,” adds Emma. “The assumption was that the original carpets would have been much more than plain.

“There are a couple of written references to the fact that Thomson designed carpets and one expert on Thomson found a fragment of carpet attributed to him.

“That gave a hint that what was on the floors was probably an extension of the walls.”

However, because Thomson’s work was so unique, contemporary carpet producers of the day were not creating the opulent designs that he favoured.

Instead, Emma found herself wading through impressive botanical carpet patterns of giant leaves and blooms in manufacturers’ archives in search of hints of Thomson style.

Having scoured design archives including Stoddart Templeton in Glasgow and struggled to find any match for Holmwood’s distinct decor, the search expanded to other archives and English carpet producers.

Eventually the NTS team took inspiration from textile and carpet designs of Welsh-born Owen Jones, whose work included the South Kensington Museum, later the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the interior decoration for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The richly patterned carpets have been created in tandem with Kidderminster-based Brintons Carpets in nine shades including a duck egg blue, rich red, soft pink, cream and black, with the same anthemion pattern of radiating petals and keys found in Ancient Greek design, twisted rope and motifs that echo the décor.

The result has transformed the rooms, adds Emma.

“There are lovely parquet floors but in the carpet well in the middle we had ‘office’ carpeting which was very serviceable but plain and it was taking the life out of the rooms.

“The new carpets make the rooms sing in a way plain carpets never did and helps to complete the room.

“What we can now demonstrate through the restoration and the carpets is that Alexander Thomson had a real skill as an interior designer as well as an architect.”

Holmwood House will be free to visit on April 9, the 205th anniversary of the birth of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson.